Asiana Airlines to Sue KTVU for Broadcasting Racist Asian Jokes

Starting this past Friday, Oakland’s KTVU faced an online storm few have ever seen after reading and broadcasting racist Asian joke names in a report about the pilots who flew the Asiana Airlines plane that crashed July 6 in San Francisco. Even after the National Transportation Safety Board commented about the incident, many still felt that KTVU should be held accountable.

Asiana has decided to sue KTVU-TV to “strongly respond to its racially discriminatory report” that disparaged Asians, Asiana spokeswoman Lee Hyomin said. She said the airline will likely file suit in U.S. courts.

She said the report seriously damaged Asiana’s reputation. Asiana decided not to sue the NTSB because it said it was the TV station report, not the U.S. federal agency that damaged the airline’s reputation. Lee did not elaborate.

KTVU-TV did not immediately reply to emails sent by The Associated Press or CBSNews.com seeking comment.